When you look closer, though, there isn't much hard evidence to support such a dramatic claim. Chinese investors are eyeing Motor City property, but they don't seem to be in a big rush to buy.

To David Szymanski, chief deputy treasurer for Wayne County, Mich., one particular metric supports this claim: the county's annual tax foreclosure auction. The auctions, Szymanski says, "sell thousands and thousands of parcels of property at very reasonable prices."

The auction went online three years ago, allowing investors from all over the world to bid. Last year, nearly 20,000 properties hit the auction block, the vast majority of them in Detroit. Ninety-nine percent of buyers at the auction are still based in the U.S., Szymanski found, and while a tiny portion of sales did go to foreign investors, not a single purchase appears to have come from China.

The impression that Chinese investors were buying many properties didn't appear out of nowhere. It started with those headlines about the bankrupt city, which were seen around the world and sparked excited Internet chatter as people in China learned of the incredibly cheap real estate.

Some Detroit real estate agents started talking about growing interest from Chinese property buyers, many of whom wanted to make cheap bulk purchases. Then, a China-based international real estate website listed Detroit as the fourth most-popular U.S. city for Chinese homebuyers.

Those rankings came from counting search terms, however, not tracking actual deals.

Admittedly, the foreclosure auction data that Szymanski cited is also an imperfect measure of foreign investment. Overseas buyers can hire a U.S. agent to bid on their behalf, and there are other ways to buy property. But still, Szymanski says, all this talk about massive Chinese investment in Detroit real estate seems to have been exaggerated.

"This thought that the rest of the world is buying Detroit seems to be misplaced. Although, I'll be very honest: I want the participation of other countries," Szymanski says. "I would love to see the money flow in."

Many people feel that way. Detroit's many abandoned homes and vacant properties are a big reason why the city went bankrupt. While a Chinese land-buying spree in Detroit still seems pretty minimal, there are some strong signs that Chinese investors have a growing interest in the city.

Jerry Xu, president of the Detroit Chinese Business Association, agrees. While most Chinese investment in Detroit thus far has been in the automotive industry, real estate has also become a hot topic in China, Xu says.

"We have the most beautiful riverfront, and we have lots of beautiful buildings," Xu says. "If you can polish [it] up, it can be a top-notch building."

State and local political leaders have also played a big role in courting Chinese investment. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who has visited China every year he's been in office, was the keynote speaker at a Detroit Chinese Business Association gala in February.

Not everyone in Detroit is thrilled by this. With so much cheap land available, there are fears that these big purchases could concentrate ever-more land in wealthy investors' hands. And when those buyers are from overseas, people can get even more uneasy.

But that's not a big concern for Detroit resident and property manager Eric Criteser — at least not yet. He says he's more concerned about finding community-minded investors who do quality work and less about where the money comes from.

Even though his business is still new, Criteser says, he's already hearing from some international investors. "Here I am, a small fry, and I get phone calls from people in Hong Kong."

Firm numbers are hard to come by, but so far, most available records and anecdotal accounts point to a diverse mix of local, national and international players in Detroit's real estate scene.

So while this idea that Chinese or other foreign investors are swallowing up Detroit may be overhyped, people are interested. They're just doing more shopping than buying at the moment.

Since Detroit filed for bankruptcy last summer, there have been lots of stories about money from Chinese investors pouring into the city. Headlines tend to read something like: China is buying up Detroit. In fact, there's really not much hard evidence to support that kind of dramatic claim.

Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek reports that Chinese investors are eyeing Motor City real estate, but they don't seem in a big rush to buy.

SARAH CWIEK, BYLINE: When Detroit went bankrupt, it made headlines all over the world. And that's how many people in China found out about the city's incredibly cheap real estate, sparking a lot of excited Internet chatter. And some Detroit real estate agents started talking about growing interest from Chinese property buyers, many of whom wanted to make bulk purchases on the cheap. And finally, a China-based international real estate website listed Detroit as the fourth most-popular U.S. city for Chinese homebuyers. But those rankings came from counting search terms not tracking actual deals. All this added up to some rather dramatic headlines but hard numbers have been elusive.

DAVID SZYMANSKI: One of the indicators, of is there actually interest from China, and are the funds flowing into Detroit, would be an indicator of participation in our auctions.

CWIEK: That's David Szymanski, chief deputy treasurer for Wayne County. He's talking about the county's annual tax foreclosure auction. Last year, nearly 20,000 properties hit the auction block, the vast majority of them in Detroit. When the auction went online three years ago, investors from all over the world could start bidding. But when Szymanski crunched the latest numbers, he found that 99 percent of buyers are still based in the U.S. And while a tiny portion did go to foreign investors, not one purchase appears to have come from China.

Admittedly, this is an imperfect measure. Overseas buyers can hire a U.S. agent to bid on their behalf. And there are lots of other ways to buy property. But Szymanski says all this talk about massive Chinese investment in Detroit real estate seems to have been exaggerated.

SZYMANSKI: This thought that the rest of the world is buying Detroit seems to be misplaced. Although I'll be very honest, I want the participation of other countries. I would love to see the money flow in.

CWIEK: A lot of people feel that way. Detroit's many abandoned homes and vacant properties are a big reason why the city went bankrupt. And while the idea of a massive Chinese land buying spree in Detroit still seems pretty thin, there are some very strong signs that Chinese investors have a growing interest in the city.

At least, Jerry Xu thinks so. He's president of the Detroit Chinese Business Association. Xu says that while most Chinese investment in Detroit thus far has been in the automotive industry, with the bankruptcy, Detroit real estate has also become a hot topic in China.

JERRY XU: We have the most beautiful riverfront and we have lots of beautiful buildings, that if you can polish them up, it can be a top-notch building.

State and local political leaders have also played a big role in courting Chinese investment, particularly Michigan Governor Rick Snyder who's visited China every year he's been in office.

Some people in Detroit aren't thrilled about this. With so much cheap land available, there's fear that lots of big purchases could concentrate ever-more land in wealthy investors' hands. And when those buyers are from overseas, people can get even more uneasy.

But that's not a big concern for Detroit resident and property manager Eric Criteser - at least, not yet. Criteser says he's more concerned about finding community-minded investors who do quality work, and less about where the money comes from. Even though his business is still pretty new, he's already hearing from some international investors.

ERIC CRITESER: Here I am, a small fry, and I get phone calls from people from Hong Kong.

CWIEK: So while this idea that Chinese or other foreign investors are swallowing up Detroit land may be significantly overhyped, people are interested. They're just doing more shopping than buying at the moment.